Bruins prevail after miracle blitz

Tuesday

May 14, 2013 at 6:00 AMMay 14, 2013 at 6:27 PM

It had to be one of the greatest comebacks, if not in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs, then at least in a Game 7. Trailing, 4-1, to the Toronto Maple Leafs with a little more than half of the third period remaining, the Bruins struck for three goals — two in the final seconds, both with an extra skater on the ice — to force overtime, then won it when Patrice Bergeron popped home a rebound out of a wild scramble at 6:05 of the extra session.

By Bud Barth TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

It had to be one of the greatest comebacks, if not in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs, then at least in a Game 7.

Trailing, 4-1, to the Toronto Maple Leafs with a little more than half of the third period remaining, the Bruins struck for three goals — two in the final seconds, both with an extra skater on the ice — to force overtime, then won it when Patrice Bergeron popped home a rebound out of a wild scramble at 6:05 of the extra session, giving Boston a 5-4 victory on Monday night at TD Garden and a ticket into the next round against the New York Rangers.

“That was an unbelievable feeling,” winger Brad Marchand said of the improbable victory. “It looked pretty bad there for a little while, but it shows the character of our team. It shows what the playoffs are like — you can't quit even if you're up by three goals, you have to play for the rest of the night.”

Bergeron, who had just one goal in the first six games of the series, also scored the tying goal with 50.2 seconds left in regulation. He added an assist, was a plus-3 for the night and won 16 of 22 faceoffs.

The Bruins will have home ice in the next round against the Rangers, who beat Washington, 5-0, in their Game 7 on Monday night. The first two games are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and 3 p.m. Sunday at TD Garden.

Nathan Horton began the comeback — although it hardly felt like one at the time — with 10:42 remaining when he buried a shot from the left hashes after a pass from Milan Lucic, who looped around behind the net from left to right. That made it 4-2.

After Matt Frattin was forced wide by goalie Tuukka Rask on a breakaway and never got his shot on net, the Bruins yanked Rask for an extra skater with about 90 seconds remaining.

It didn't take long for Lucic to put home a rebound that went in and out of goalie James Reimer's glove to make it 4-3 with 1:22 left.

Rask came back in the game for the ensuing faceoff, but went right to the bench when the Bruins got control. They passed it around the perimeter, and Bergeron's shot from the point with 50.2 seconds remaining somehow eluded Reimer, who had been brilliant for the first 58-1/2 minutes.

The Bruins almost won it in regulation, but Rich Peverley fanned on a juicy rebound right in front of Reimer with a couple of seconds left.

The Leafs were leading after two periods, 2-1, but expanded their lead to 3-1 when Phil Kessel scored on a rebound at 2:09 of the third period, then fed Nazem Kadri on a two-on-one rush for the goal that made it 4-1 at 5:29.

At that point, things looked bleak for the Bruins.

“Very,” Marchand admitted. “It was tough being on the bench, getting booed and looking up at the time clock and watching those seconds count down. But after Krech's line got that first one for us (by Horton) and started the climb back, you could see the emotion on the bench and guys starting to believe. That's what we needed.”

In the end, the Bruins — who scored just three goals in 169 minutes until Horton scored — wound up scoring four times in 17 minutes in this one.

As many crazy games as the Bruins played in their 2011 championship run (three overtime wins), this one topped all of them.

“I don't think I've ever been part of a game that was anything like that,” Lucic said. “I think you can tell from halfway through the first until halfway through the third they (Leafs) really frustrated us, and we couldn't get much going, and it just felt like one play, on Horty's goal, kind of turned things around and made us believe.”

The fact that this win could have prevented a dismantling of the Bruins wasn't lost on Lucic.

“When you're looking at the clock wind down with half a period left at 4-1, you start thinking to yourself, 'Is this the end of this group here?' Because it probably would have been if we didn't win this game, but you've got to have bounces. You've got to have luck. You've got to have everything go your way, and that's what happened there in the last 10 minutes of the third period.”

What makes it even more amazing is the Bruins did all this without veteran defensemen Andrew Ference (out with an injury), Wade Redden (a healthy scratch) and Dennis Seidenberg, who suffered an apparent leg injury in the first period and never returned. That put a huge burden on their remaining five defensemen, especially untested youngsters Matt Bartkowski and Dougie Hamilton.

The Bruins scored first in this one. Bartkowski, a surprise starter in place of Redden, pounced on Cody Franson's errant pass from the left wing boards and fired one from above the left circle between Reimer's legs for an unassisted goal and a 1-0 lead at 5:39.

Two minutes later, Rask stoned Joffrey Lupul on a breakaway, but Zdeno Chara got caught hooking Lupul from behind and drew a penalty.

The Bruins defended the Toronto power play brilliantly for the first 1:54, diving into the shooting lanes to prevent shots on Rask. But with six seconds left on the penalty, Rask couldn't control the rebound of a Dion Phaneuf shot from the point, and Franson, of all people, was all alone at the right side of the crease to backhand home the loose puck and make it 1-1 at 9:35.

After the Boston power play again fizzled without producing a single shot, the Maple Leafs went ahead, 2-1, early in the second period when Franson's shot from the right point went through a screen and beat Rask at 5:48. Franson finished with two goals and an assist.

The Maple Leafs, as you might expect, were stunned by the defeat.

“It just seemed like we ran out of gas,” Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said. “You can tell that they're a veteran team that found a way to get it done, and they probably can say they didn't play their best games in the series, yet they still found a way to get it done, so you've got to take your hat off to them.”

“It's definitely in the top five lows of your life,” Reimer said, trying to describe his level of disappointment. “It's not like we were getting away from our game when it was 4-1, I don't think. It's just they came with some pressure and some desperation, and they were able to sneak a few bounces in.”